Spurs alerted as City deny Willian interest

Manchester City have rejected having any interest in signing Brazilian midfielder Willian from Anzhi Makhachkala as the Russian side look to slash their budget.

The availability of the 25 year old at a knock down price was said to have been a hot topic at City who were keen on signing him before his January move to Anzi from Shaktar Donetsk for £32million but the club have informed media that they do not retain any interest in the player.

Tottenham Hotspur had also been keeping an eye on the player’s contract at Shaktar but baulked at the asking price initially as Anzi made clear their intentions of bringing the Brazilian to the Russian league.

The free-spending club are now attempting to bring their budget back to earth after recent years of astronomical spending which also brought former Barcelona and Inter Milan star Samuel Eto’o to the club meaning that a number of Europe’s hottest prospects could be available at below market prices.

Eto’o himself has said that he wants the club to end his contract and allow him to join another club this year with his former Inter managers Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho said to be interested in taking him to their current clubs Napoli and Chelsea respectively.

City have already brought in Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic this summer for a combined fee of around £90million and will not look to spend any more this transfer window even with the possibility of getting Willian at a low price.

Spurs though are still in somewhat of a limbo over the future of Gareth Bale who has made clear his desire to join Real Madrid this summer and though the club remain resolute in their stance that he will not be sold the management and new technical director Franco Baldini are eyeing up potential replacements for the Welshman.

Baldini’s former club Roma are hoping to tie down Brazilian youngster Erik Lamela to a new contract so as to ward off potential interest from clubs like Tottenham but Anzi and Willian might be more agreeable to a deal which sees them recoup some of their outlay and allows the player to join a Premier League club.

Willian will likely go for a fee below £30million which will be seen by Spurs as a chane to get a Champions League level player at an agreeable price.